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Sunday, September 1, 2013

Place Review: The Stalker

You spawn in a dark, unfamiliar area. Armed with just a rifle, you desperately scan the landscape for any sign of the elusive murderer. You fall to the ground as a scream pierces through the silent night, and the sound of guns rips through the air. You stagger to your feet, lucky to survive. Catching a glimpse of white, you let your gun loose on the forest that lay in front of you. But to no avail...the Stalker escaped, and is waiting to strike again.

Hello, DDude9091 here. Today, I'll be reviewing The Stalker, as many of you have probably guessed with the dramatic intro. Winner of the 2013 "Most Creative Game of the Year" BLOXY, this game has always been a favorite of mine. Let's get to the gameplay:

As a Combine:

When the game begins, you are dropped in to a random map. Your creepy surroundings hide the almost completely invisible Stalker. Your job as a combine is to eliminate The Stalker before he eliminates you. You are armed with a rifle to begin with, although you can purchase other items in the game's shop.Advice: Stay in large groups, and hunt the stalker, don't behunted. If one of you strays away, they will be picked off immediately.

As a Stalker:Selected at random, you are teleported in to the map five minutes before the combines so that you can get ready. You are allowed to have one special move per round (activated by the Q key), which is a scream by default. The scream makes anyone near you take damage and fall on the ground. This can be used strategically in many ways. Other abilities include possession and multiplying yourself, but you'll have to figure those out on your own. To damage a player, you have to click them while close to them.Advice: As I mentioned in the Combine advice, its always a good strategy to pick off the people who wander away from the group. A quick scream to throw them to the ground and two clicks will finish them off. After that, hide somewhere dark and out of view. To take on large groups, get as close as you can to them without being seen, and scream. Whichever one flies out the farthest, kill, then run away again and bide your time.

Out of Game:
The lobby is nothing amazing, but sometimes simple is better. The two floor area consists of an obby on the upper floor for 25 points, and on the lower floor a plain room with rainbow rolling spheres in it. The games are timed, so you are never waiting for long.

Shop:
The shop is too complicated in my opinion. To equip something, you have to buy it in the store, then go to your inventory, select the category of what you bought, and equip it. You should just be able to right-click the item in the shop if you have it to equip it. If you have VIP, you can buy upgrades such as (for the combine) extra gravity, extra health, etc., but you don't need it for the Stalker. Upgrades for the Stalker consist of possession, multiplication, etc. You can also buy hats for your combine, with a limit of two on at a time.

Maps Include:
The classic haunted house by Shedletsky.
A forest
An abandoned safe house
Caverns deep underground
Etc.

Building: 8/10
The building takes complete advantage of dynamic lighting, and has tons of details that make it spectacular. Not only is it amazingly built, but it appeals to the gameplay, too.

Scripting: 9/10
Flawless. The GUI shop always works, I've never seen a single bug with it. The countdown always works, nothing has ever messed up from what I've seen, except for when I spawned in the lobby as a Stalker.